Even as deployments of smart grid [2]infrastructure have accelerated in recent years, the home energy management (HEM) market has struggled to gain traction. Numerous trials have led to only a few cases of industry deployments and to anemic rates of consumer adoption. According to Pike Research[3], that is starting to change, and over the remainder of the decade momentum will build in this nascent market. In its new report, Pike Research predicts that the global annual shipments of standalone HEM systems will grow from a quarter million in 2011 to nearly 4.7 million in 2020, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.3%.

Combined revenue for all HEM segments will grow from a base of $93 million in 2011 to more than $2 billion in 2020, the cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts.

“The home energy management market will make steady progress over the coming eight years,” says senior analyst Neil Strother. “It will be driven by government mandates, utility programs, and a growing number of consumers looking to manage their energy bills. Also, a combination of consumer desire to be more ‘green,’ home construction and retrofits with energy management objectives, and new technologies surrounding plug-in electric vehicles will help stimulate the market.”

HEM products can be viewed in five groups, or segments, along a continuum that moves from paper bills (a mailed statement from the utility showing a customer’s energy usage as it compares to households nearby), through standalone HEM systems, which include some device-level tracking and automated device control capabilities, up to networked HEM, comprising auto-pricing response capabilities, demand response (DR) load control, and home automation controls, says Pike Research (Boulder, Colo., USA). Of these, networked-HEM revenue will see the strongest growth (76.8% CAGR), as utilities attempt to drive volume sales of networked HEM systems in order to make DR and time-of-use pricing schemes feasible.